On Feb. 1 the Lexington Public Library will host a fund-raiser, A Night of Literary Feasts, offering the public an opportunity to meet and greet a number of guest authors. An opening reception at the Central Branch will gather authors and attendees for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, to be directly followed by dinners in private homes, historic public buildings, and select businesses, with each site featuring one of the visiting writers. The proceeds will go towards the library's efforts to offer its visitors (1,834,604 visits in 2007) an improved vital presence in the community. The authors of the books below will be among those at this event. For more information on this event or to make a reservation, call 231-5504 or email sborders@lexpublib.org.
The Virgin of Small Plains
The winter storm piled the drifts high as the frigid wind blew across the prairie lands of Kansas. Sixteen-year-old Rex Shellenberger, his older brother, and father headed out to the fields to gather in the cattle, some of which were dropping their newborn calves in the frozen mounds of snow and ice. It was necessary for the stock's survival to get them into the safety of the barn. From their pickup's window the men saw an unfamiliar figure lying in a field. They ran out to find a young woman lying at their feetónaked, bloody, and dead.
For 17 years the rural community tended the grave of the unidentified young woman, who had come to be known as the Virgin. For 17 years many wondered if her death had anything to do with the sudden disappearance of Mitch Newquist the day after her gruesome find. Mitch was Rex's best friend and the love of young Abby Reynolds' life.
The close-knit town's residents did not discuss the death and did nothing to discover the victim's identity. It isn't until years later, when Rex becomes sheriff of the small community, that rumbles regarding the mystery begin. The older citizens deflect the questions aimed at clearing up the case, but Mitch's reappearance triggers a series of events that unwind the story spun so many years earlier. The life-changing events of that night in the storm finally come into the open, but not without consequences.
Pickard offers an engaging story that, on its first page, pulls the reader into the secrets of this tiny hamlet and doesn't release them until the final page. Absorbing in the depth of its characters, The Virgin of Small Plains begs to be read in one sitting.
Him Her Him Again The End of Him
Patricia Marx provides the story of her decidedly quirky heroine as she encounters her decidedly creepy and deceptive first love, Eugene Obello. As a philosophy student/teacher/aficionado, he dazzles her with his seemingly expansive knowledge of the English language, among others, and while he treats her with total disregard, she proves that love is blind. Not only is it blind, but deaf and dumb, and it manages to numb another senseócommon sense. Amazingly, Marx' heroine is only one on a long list of his paramours. After years of being strung along, left behind, picked up again, and summarily dropped soon after, it is a serendipitous act that "befalls Eugene that finally brings our heroine freedom.
Master of the laundry list method of description